Articles: opioid.
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Pediatric emergency care · Jun 2022
Use of Outpatient Opioids Prescribed From a Pediatric Acute Care Setting.
Deaths due to prescription opioid overdoses are at record high levels. Limiting the amount of opioid prescribed has been suggested as a prevention strategy, but little is known about how much is needed to adequately treat acutely painful conditions for outpatients. The purpose of this study was to quantify the usage of opioids prescribed from the pediatric emergency departments of a Midwestern tertiary care children's hospital system. ⋯ Prescribed opioid doses exceeded used doses by a factor of 6. Lower extremity fractures required more doses than other acutely painful conditions. We should consider limiting doses prescribed to decrease excess opioids available for misuse and abuse.
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The Prescription Opioid Misuse and Abuse Questionnaire (POMAQ) was developed to identify prescription opioid misuse and abuse among patients with chronic pain. A clinical scoring algorithm was developed and refined to align with the patient experience. ⋯ The clinical scoring algorithm for the POMAQ was developed and refined to reflect clinically relevant patient behaviors identified by expert review. Future testing is needed to determine the sensitivity and specificity of this measure.
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The opioid abuse epidemic has focused attention on efforts to decrease opioid prescribing. Although education and feedback interventions are potential levers to affect opioid prescribing, their incremental contribution against a background of declining opioid prescriptions is unclear. ⋯ The ED Opioid Safety Initiative was associated with a near-term decrease in multiple categories of opioid prescribing, including for selected subgroups of common painful conditions.
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As opioid-related hospitalizations rise, hospitals must be prepared to evaluate and treat patients with opioid use disorder (OUD). We implemented a hospitalist-led program, Project Caring for patients with Opioid Misuse through Evidence-based Treatment (COMET) to address gaps in care for hospitalized patients with OUD. ⋯ Our program is one of the first to demonstrate successful implementation of a hospitalist-led, comprehensive approach to caring for hospitalized patients with OUD and can serve as an example to other institutions seeking to implement life-saving, evidence-based treatment in this population.
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Journal of women's health · Jun 2022
The Effect of an Automated Order on Postpartum Opioid Use After Uncomplicated Vaginal Deliveries.
Background: To address the opioid epidemic, physicians are encouraged to identify means of reducing patient opioid exposure. Electronic medical records (EMRs) often include default order sets with automated orders for opioid medications, which may influence how much opioids physicians prescribe. We sought to evaluate the impact of de-selecting an automated order for oxycodone-acetaminophen from an EMR order set for postpartum vaginal deliveries on inpatient opioid exposure by comparing the proportion of patients who received an opioid after an uncomplicated vaginal delivery before and after the EMR change. ⋯ Of those who received opioids, the preintervention mean total opioid consumption was 28.4 MME (±27.6) compared to 33.6 MME (±46.4) postintervention, and there was no significant difference in median total opioid consumption: 22.5 MME (interquartile range [IQR]: 7.5-47.5) preintervention compared with 20.8 MME (IQR: 7.5-45.0) postintervention (p = 0.902). No significant difference was found with discharge opioid prescriptions between the two groups. Conclusion: Order sets within EMR systems appear to have a significant influence on physician prescribing behaviors and removing these automated orders for opioids should be considered.